Fergy Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I tried using the search function to find something, but searching for 'ich' isn't allowed because it's less than 4 letters... Anyways, Has anybody had success with this type of treatment? I've read here <html>http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php</html> that raising the temp to about 86F for 10 days should solve the problem... This is a tolerable temp for most tropical fish and cichlids, isn't it? The tank currently has 1 bolivian, 2 bumblebee cichlids (not a good idea I know.. I thought they were yellow labs when I bought them. If anyone is interested to hesitate to pm haha), 7 tiger barbs, 1 dwarf gourami and a couple corys. As for the salt part of it... How much to add and what type? I've read table salt is a no because of the iodine, but also read that the iodine doesn't really affect the fish? What about sea salt? Or do I specifically need to go purchase aquarium salt? I'm just skeptical about the iodine part as I dose one of my other tanks with a small amount for my crayfish and I've never had a fish loss in that tank that wasn't crayfish related. Thanks for any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I tried using the search function to find something, but searching for 'ich' isn't allowed because it's less than 4 letters...Anyways, Has anybody had success with this type of treatment? I've read here <html>http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_ich2.php</html> that raising the temp to about 86F for 10 days should solve the problem... This is a tolerable temp for most tropical fish and cichlids, isn't it? The tank currently has 1 bolivian, 2 bumblebee cichlids (not a good idea I know.. I thought they were yellow labs when I bought them. If anyone is interested to hesitate to pm haha), 7 tiger barbs, 1 dwarf gourami and a couple corys. As for the salt part of it... How much to add and what type? I've read table salt is a no because of the iodine, but also read that the iodine doesn't really affect the fish? What about sea salt? Or do I specifically need to go purchase aquarium salt? I'm just skeptical about the iodine part as I dose one of my other tanks with a small amount for my crayfish and I've never had a fish loss in that tank that wasn't crayfish related. Thanks for any help. here is a website i've used in the past It lists how to dose salt and treat Ich with heat. The Rid-ich meds isn't nessasary but i think it would be good to do anyway. The only thing he doesn't mention is that you should only increse the temp in the tank gradually. Hope this answers your questions. ALSO BEWARE that some fish are intolerant to salt and so is one strain of ich I know you listed the fish you have in that tank but i don't know enough about them to tell you if they are tolerant or not. Maybe check with someone on the forum. Also one last thing is that Heat speeds up the Ich Lifecycle so that the bacteria can get to the yes i can kill it stage faster. I'd dose with the first dose of salt as you increase the temp. Good luck L Ich and Salt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Thanks for the reply but I forgot to mention the tank is planted... And I didn't realize at first when I was asking, but I know scaleless fish (corys) are pretty sensitive to salt, and on further reading I found out salt and plants don't mix either. I've been slowly raising the temp today and will have to go pick up some meds to start treatment I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 As stated in the article, be sure that you have enough aeration. Water holds less O2 at higher temps, so you will want good aeration at night especially when the plants are taking up O2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy Posted January 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 I have a HOB filter and a 12" air stone.. should be enough I think, along with daily 25% water changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 That airstone should be more than adequate aeration. Keep the concentration of the meds in the tank the same so if you plan to continue to do water changes then you best be sure to add the same amount of meds you are removing back into the tank. If you do do water changes try to vaccume the gravel. Of course i've be told that that can be difficult if you have a planted tank but do as much as you can since that is where the dormant(meds can't kill) form of the Ich bacteria stays till it goes to it's free swimming(med kill time) stage. When it's on the fish meds won't kill it. I think i said this before or it was in the link i sent you but raising the temp speeds up the dormant cycle of the bacteria so they become med kill easy/looking to attatch to a fish sooner. I know i had a webpage bookmarked that did a really good job of explaining everything. Hmmm Try googleing Ich/Ick/White Spot Add fish to the end to narrow the results. I took a few minutes to try and find the site i used before to no avail BUT i did find another site that gave a good description on the life cycle of the bacteria and a treatment option for you if you had a quarantine/hospital/extra tank. here it isIch site #2 Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soliver Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 I have also had some success with just raising the temperature. I got ich from a plant i bought and i noticed it very early. I cranked the heat up and it was gone in a couple of days. This may or may not work for you, depending on how long it has been since you noticed it. Hope you have success with this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergy Posted January 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 I had raised the temp a few degrees and picked up an ich med (nox ich), and foolishly dosed the tank with less than half the recommended dose before carefully looking at the ingredients and realizing that 50% of the active ingredients is salt. I've lost one cory and 3 barbs... no signs of ich, but I think it may be due to stress/secondary infections for the barbs. For the cory I would almost certainly say it was a combination of the harsh meds and the salt. Live and learn, I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soliver Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Thats the thing about keeping fish, your always learing. Most of the time from mistakes you make. I hope the rest of your fish pull through and sorry for your loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 recently ich has gone through a few of my tanks. i took out most of the fish that had a bad case of ich and put them into a 10g quarantine tank. The one tank i had two clown loaches, lots of tetras. i have lots of Cory's, about 25 spread through out most of my tanks i raised the temp to 83ish and dosed 1 tbsp per 5 gallon of salt in all tanks, plus dosed with ich medicine in three of the tanks. the tank with the clown loaches and tetras i only dosed 1/2 strength. The ich is gone in all tanks except the quarantine tank. out of the fish that went into the quarantine tank 6 German rams, 2 rummy nose tetras, 1 male guppy 3 sword tails. i lost 3 German rams the tetras and the sword tails jumped out of the tank. the last three German rams still have ich one is quite bad. all the other tanks are fine one of the clown loaches had one spot of ich, but is fine now. even with that much salt i did not notice any Cory's acting strangely, and all lived. i also fed frozen blood worms, micro worms, and frozen tubeiflex worms while this was all going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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